It was back to business as usual at the Marshalltown Speedway on Friday night after Mother Nature claimed last week's racing event. The track was fast, the racing close and exciting, making for an entertaining night for racers and fans alike.
Merv Chandler kept his perfect record going in the IMCA Sport Compact class, claiming another win--his fifth of the season at the track. Newcomer to the track, Duayne Herb led the first two circuits of the race, but Chandler was leading by lap five, and motored home to the victory. David Moormann was second, third went to Herb, followed by Josh Keller in fourth. Justin Tharp did not finish the race and John Gill was a DNS.
Josh May found his way to victory circle for the second time this season in the Mod Lite division. May took the lead early in the contest, never to look back. A restart with a lap to go produced a green-white checkered finish but May would still win easily. Joel Huggins took the runner up spot, followed by Mike Kennedy, Mike Morrill and Randy Bryan--third through fifth in that order.
The IMCA Hobby Stock class ended their feature with a green-white-checkered. Winner Austin Luellen led nearly the entire race with a comfortable lead over Eric Larson, when the yellow flew, making for that "bonus lap" situation and bunching up the field behind him. Scott Pippert took advantage of that restart situation and swung around Larson and into second and closed in on the leader during the final lap. It wasn't to be for Pippert tonight, as he finished as runner up to Luellen. Larson held the third spot over Kevin Fee in fourth and Donovan Nunnikhoven in fifth.
The IMCA Northern SportMods went 15-laps caution free. Gatlin Leythem, starting on the outside front row, jumped to the lead immediately and was never really challenged. Behind him was a different story with Carter VanDenBerg, Jake Strayer, and Jenae Gustin moving forward fast and all battling for position. Strayer would take the second spot, Jenae Gustin took third after starting back in tenth place, fourth was VanDenBerg and Nick Roberts rounded out the top five.
The Class too Tough to Tame, the IMCA Stock Cars waged an 18-lap match. Trent Murphy, who had started on the pole position, took the lead at the drop of the green but he was quickly challenged by Jay Schmidt, Damon Murty and Brian Irvine. Those four gave the fans a good show, wheeling around the high banks of Marshalltown. Murphy's luck would end when he pulled off of the racing surface, the lead now in Murty's hands. Murty would take the win by a comfortable margin over Jay Schmidt in second, and a close third went to Irvine. Steve Meyer finished in fourth and Michael Murphy was fifth.
The 20-lap IMCA Modified feature ended the night's program. Josh Truman led the early laps but there were challenges looming behind him. Kyle Brown, who had just gotten his first ever A modified win under his belt at the Benton County Speedway on Sunday night, was hanging on to second, but he soon had company. Luke Wanninger and Jammin' Jimmy Gustin were coming full speed, both up for the battle that lay ahead of them. Wanninger was able to make the pass into first, Gustin in tow behind him for second. The only caution of the race would then come with just three laps to go, scrunching up the field. However, nothing would change in the running order of those final circuits with Wanninger taking the win, Gustin in second, Truman held third, and Kyle Brown and father David Brown finished in fourth and fifth.
So ended another night at the Marshalltown Speedway. This time, Mother Nature cooperated, though some people in the grandstands appeared to have forgotten some warmer clothes as the night cooled off considerably. We also heard that not too far to the west in Ames, it was raining.
We are looking forward to Knoxville Raceway's First Annual Shootout for Modifieds, SportMods, Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks this Sunday. It has already fallen to rain outs twice, so we are hoping the third time is the charm. We also plan to travel to Webster City on Tuesday night for the Hawkeye Dirt Tour and Wayne Redmond Memorial race at the Hamilton County Speedway. You can check out a listing of some races coming up that you might like to see. A calendar of events is listed at Positively Racing. Hope you can find a race you might like to attend. Happy racing!
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